Bridging video conference connections

ABSTRACT

One example method bridging video conference connections includes joining, using a client device, a video conference using a first network interface, the video conference including a plurality of participants; determining a need for a second network interface; connecting to the video conference using the second network interface simultaneously with the first network interface; assigning a first multimedia stream to the first network interface and a second multimedia stream to the second network interface; and using the first and second network interfaces to transmit or receive the first and second multimedia streams.

FIELD

This application generally relates to video conferencing and moreparticularly relates to bridging video conference connections.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more certain examples and,together with the description of the example, serve to explain theprinciples and implementations of the certain examples.

FIGS. 1-2 are example systems for bridging video conference connections;

FIGS. 3A-3B show example systems for bridging video conferenceconnections;

FIG. 4 shows an example system for bridging video conferenceconnections;

FIG. 5 shows an example method for bridging video conferenceconnections; and

FIG. 6 shows an example computing device suitable for use with systemsand methods for bridging video conference connections.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples are described herein in the context of bridging videoconference connections. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realizethat the following description is illustrative only and is not intendedto be in any way limiting. Reference will now be made in detail toimplementations of examples as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.The same reference indicators will be used throughout the drawings andthe following description to refer to the same or like items.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of theexamples described herein are shown and described. It will, of course,be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be madein order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliancewith application- and business-related constraints, and that thesespecific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from onedeveloper to another.

People participate in video conferences for a wide variety of reasons,such as to keep in touch with family, conduct business, or manage groupsor organizations. Frequently, people attend video conferences usingtheir own personal client device, such as a desktop or laptop computer,tablet, or smartphone. However, as a result, they may join videoconferences from locations with slow or unreliable network connections,which can impact the quality of audio or video streams transmitted bytheir client device to the video conference provider and otherparticipants in the video conference.

To help mitigate the effects of such connectivity issues, it may bepossible to access a second network connection using a different deviceand employ both network connections to provide audio and video streamsto the video conference provider. For example, if person uses theirlaptop or tablet to execute video conference client software to join avideo conference using their home's internet connection, e.g., via WiFi,the video conference client software may monitor the quality of the WiFiconnection and, if the connection quality drops below a thresholdquality for more than a preset period of time, the video conferenceclient software may establish a connection to the user's smartphone,such as by using Bluetooth, and employ the smartphone's cellular dataconnection as a secondary network connection over which audio or videostreams can be transmitted.

Once the secondary network connection is established, the videoconference client software may monitor both network connections anddetermine a highest quality connection. It may then select one of theaudio or video streams to be routed over the highest quality connectionto ensure the other participants in the video conference are able toreceive the best quality audio or video from the user, while allowingsome degradation of the other stream by routing it to the lower-qualityconnection. For example, the video conference client software may routethe user's audio stream over the highest quality network connection toensure the other participants can clearly hear the user, even if thevideo stream is degraded or unavailable. Alternatively, if the secondarynetwork connection has sufficient bandwidth, the video conference clientsoftware may temporarily route both audio and video streams over thesecondary network connection until the primary network connectionreturns to an acceptable quality level. Thus, during the videoconference, the video conference client software may dynamically shiftthe audio and video streams between the two network connections.

Once the video conference has ended, the video conference clientsoftware disconnects the client device from the user's smartphone toterminate the secondary network connection. Thus, the process to enableand disable alternative network connections may be entirely transparentto the user.

Such techniques may allow a user to participate in a video conferenceeven in scenarios where a network connection is unreliable, slow, orotherwise of poor quality, but without requiring the user to send allvideo conferencing data over a more expensive network connection, suchas a cellular data connection. Further, because the video conferenceclient software may manage the different connections and dynamicallyroute data across different connections during the video conference, theuser may be unaware of the changes, and the re-routing may occur muchmore quickly than if the user were to perform the re-routing manually orthan if they were to drop from the video conference entirely to switchto the more expensive network connection before rejoining the videoconference.

To provide such functionality as well as other functionality describedherein, an example method for bridging video conference connections mayinclude joining, using a client device, a video conference using a firstnetwork interface, the video conference including a plurality ofparticipants; determining to use a second network interface; connectingto the video conference using the second network interfacesimultaneously with the first network interface; assigning a firstmultimedia stream to the first network interface and a second multimediastream to the second network interface; and using the first and secondnetwork interfaces to transmit or receive the first and secondmultimedia streams.

In addition, a system for bridging video conference connections mayinclude a first network interface; a non-transitory computer-readablemedium; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the firstnetwork interface and the non-transitory computer-readable medium, theone or more processors configured to execute processor-executableinstructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium tocause the one or more processors to join a video conference using afirst network interface, the video conference including a plurality ofparticipants; determine to use a second network interface; connect tothe video conference using the second network interface simultaneouslywith the first network interface; assign a first multimedia stream tothe first network interface and a second multimedia stream to the secondnetwork interface; and use the first and second network interfaces totransmit or receive the first and second multimedia streams.

Further, one example non-transitory computer-readable medium includesprocessor-executable instructions configured to cause one or moreprocessors to join a video conference using a first network interface,the video conference including a plurality of participants; determine touse a second network interface; connect to the video conference usingthe second network interface simultaneously with the first networkinterface; assign a first multimedia stream to the first networkinterface and a second multimedia stream to the second networkinterface; and use the first and second network interfaces to transmitor receive the first and second multimedia streams.

These illustrative examples are given to introduce the reader to thegeneral subject matter discussed herein and the disclosure is notlimited to these examples. The following sections describe variousadditional non-limiting examples and examples of bridging videoconference connections.

Referring now to FIG. 1 , FIG. 1 shows an example system 100 thatprovides videoconferencing functionality to various client devices. Thesystem 100 includes a video conference provider 110 that is connected tomultiple communication networks 120, 130, through which various clientdevices 140-180 can participate in video conferences hosted by the videoconference provider 110. For example, the video conference provider 120can be located within a private network to provide video conferencingservices to devices within the private network, or it can be connectedto a public network, e.g., the internet, so it may be accessed byanyone. Some examples may even provide a hybrid model in which a videoconference provider 120 may supply components to enable a privateorganization to host private internal video conferences or to connectits system to the video conference provider 120 over a public network.

The system optionally also includes one or more user identity providers,e.g., user identity provider 115, which can provide user identityservices to users of the client devices 140-160 and may authenticateuser identities of one or more users to the video conference provider110. In this example, the user identity provider 115 is operated by adifferent entity than the video conference provider 110, though in someexamples, they may be the same entity.

Video conference provider 110 allows clients to create videoconferencemeetings (or “meetings”) and invite others to participate in thosemeetings as well as perform other related functionality, such asrecording the meetings, generating transcripts from meeting audio,manage user functionality in the meetings, enable text messaging duringthe meetings, create and manage breakout rooms from the main meeting,etc. FIG. 2 , described below, provides a more detailed description ofthe architecture and functionality of the video conference provider 110.

Meetings in this example video conference provider 110 are provided invirtual “rooms” to which participants are connected. The room in thiscontext is a construct provided by a server that provides a common pointat which the various video and audio data is received before beingmultiplexed and provided to the various participants. While a “room” isthe label for this concept in this disclosure, any suitablefunctionality that enables multiple participants to participate in acommon videoconference may be used. Further, in some examples, and asalluded to above, a meeting may also have “breakout” rooms. Suchbreakout rooms may also be rooms that are associated with a “main”videoconference room. Thus, participants in the main videoconferenceroom may exit the room into a breakout room, e.g., to discuss aparticular topic, before returning to the main room. The breakout roomsin this example are discrete meetings that are associated with themeeting in the main room. However, to join a breakout room, aparticipant must first enter the main room. A room may have any numberof associated breakout rooms according to various examples.

To create a meeting with the video conference provider 110, a user maycontact the video conference provider 110 using a client device 140-180and select an option to create a new meeting. Such an option may beprovided in a webpage accessed by a client device 140-160 or clientapplication executed by a client device 140-160. For telephony devices,the user may be presented with an audio menu that they may navigate bypressing numeric buttons on their telephony device. To create themeeting, the video conference provider 110 may prompt the user forcertain information, such as a date, time, and duration for the meeting,a number of participants, a type of encryption to use, whether themeeting is confidential or open to the public, etc. After receiving thevarious meeting settings, the video conference provider may create arecord for the meeting and generate a meeting identifier and, in someexamples, a corresponding meeting password or passcode (or otherauthentication information), all of which meeting information isprovided to the meeting host.

After receiving the meeting information, the user may distribute themeeting information to one or more users to invite them to the meeting.To begin the meeting at the scheduled time (or immediately, if themeeting was set for an immediate start), the host provides the meetingidentifier and, if applicable, corresponding authentication information(e.g., a password or passcode). The video conference system theninitiates the meeting and may admit users to the meeting. Depending onthe options set for the meeting, the users may be admitted immediatelyupon providing the appropriate meeting identifier (and authenticationinformation, as appropriate), even if the host has not yet arrived, orthe users may be presented with information indicating that the meetinghas not yet started, or the host may be required to specifically admitone or more of the users.

During the meeting, the participants may employ their client devices140-180 to capture audio or video information and stream thatinformation to the video conference provider 110. They also receiveaudio or video information from the video conference provider 210, whichis displayed by the respective client device 140 to enable the varioususers to participate in the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the host may select an option to terminatethe meeting, or it may terminate automatically at a scheduled end timeor after a predetermined duration. When the meeting terminates, thevarious participants are disconnected from the meeting and they will nolonger receive audio or video streams for the meeting (and will stoptransmitting audio or video streams). The video conference provider 110may also invalidate the meeting information, such as the meetingidentifier or password/passcode.

To provide such functionality, one or more client devices 140-180 maycommunicate with the video conference provider 110 using one or morecommunication networks, such as network 120 or the public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”) 130. The client devices 140-180 may be anysuitable computing or communications device that have audio or videocapability. For example, client devices 140-160 may be conventionalcomputing devices, such as desktop or laptop computers having processorsand computer-readable media, connected to the video conference provider110 using the internet or other suitable computer network. Suitablenetworks include the internet, any local area network (“LAN”), metroarea network (“MAN”), wide area network (“WAN”), cellular network (e.g.,3G, 4G, 4G LTE, 5G, etc.), or any combination of these. Other types ofcomputing devices may be used instead or as well, such as tablets,smartphones, and dedicated video conferencing equipment. Each of thesedevices may provide both audio and video capabilities and may enable oneor more users to participate in a video conference meeting hosted by thevideo conference provider 110.

In addition to the computing devices discussed above, client devices140-180 may also include one or more telephony devices, such as cellulartelephones (e.g., cellular telephone 170), internet protocol (“IP”)phones (e.g., telephone 180), or conventional telephones. Such telephonydevices may allow a user to make conventional telephone calls to othertelephony devices using the PSTN, including the video conferenceprovider 110. It should be appreciated that certain computing devicesmay also provide telephony functionality and may operate as telephonydevices. For example, smartphones typically provide cellular telephonecapabilities and thus may operate as telephony devices in the examplesystem 100 shown in FIG. 1 . In addition, conventional computing devicesmay execute software to enable telephony functionality, which may allowthe user to make and receive phone calls, e.g., using a headset andmicrophone. Such software may communicate with a PSTN gateway to routethe call from a computer network to the PSTN. Thus, telephony devicesencompass any devices that can make conventional telephone calls and isnot limited solely to dedicated telephony devices like conventionaltelephones.

Referring again to client devices 140-160, these devices 140-160 contactthe video conference provider 110 using network 120 and may provideinformation to the video conference provider 110 to access functionalityprovided by the video conference provider 110, such as access to createnew meetings or join existing meetings. To do so, the client devices140-160 may provide user identification information, meetingidentifiers, meeting passwords or passcodes, etc. In examples thatemploy a user identity provider 115, a client device, e.g., clientdevices 140-160, may operate in conjunction with a user identityprovider 115 to provide user identification information or other userinformation to the video conference provider 110.

A user identity provider 115 may be any entity trusted by the videoconference provider 110 that can help identify a user to the videoconference provider 110. For example, a trusted entity may be a serveroperated by a business or other organization and with whom the user hasestablished their identity, such as an employer or trusted third-party.The user may sign into the user identity provider 115, such as byproviding a username and password, to access their identity at the useridentity provider 115. The identity, in this sense, is informationestablished and maintained at the user identity provider 115 that can beused to identify a particular user, irrespective of the client devicethey may be using. An example of an identity may be an email accountestablished at the user identity provider 110 by the user and secured bya password or additional security features, such as biometricauthentication, two-factor authentication, etc. However, identities maybe distinct from functionality such as email. For example, a health careprovider may establish identities for its patients. And while suchidentities may have associated email accounts, the identity is distinctfrom those email accounts. Thus, a user's “identity” relates to asecure, verified set of information that is tied to a particular userand should be accessible only by that user. By accessing the identity,the associated user may then verify themselves to other computingdevices or services, such as the video conference provider 110.

When the user accesses the video conference provider 110 using a clientdevice, the video conference provider 110 communicates with the useridentity provider 115 using information provided by the user to verifythe user's identity. For example, the user may provide a username orcryptographic signature associated with a user identity provider 115.The user identity provider 115 then either confirms the user's identityor denies the request. Based on this response, the video conferenceprovider 110 either provides or denies access to its services,respectively.

For telephony devices, e.g., client devices 170-180, the user may placea telephone call to the video conference provider 110 to access videoconference services. After the call is answered, the user may provideinformation regarding a video conference meeting, e.g., a meetingidentifier (“ID”), a passcode or password, etc., to allow the telephonydevice to join the meeting and participate using audio devices of thetelephony device, e.g., microphone(s) and speaker(s), even if videocapabilities are not provided by the telephony device.

Because telephony devices typically have more limited functionality thanconventional computing devices, they may be unable to provide certaininformation to the video conference provider 110. For example, telephonydevices may be unable to provide user identification information toidentify the telephony device or the user to the video conferenceprovider 110. Thus, the video conference provider 110 may provide morelimited functionality to such telephony devices. For example, the usermay be permitted to join a meeting after providing meeting information,e.g., a meeting identifier and passcode, but they may be identified onlyas an anonymous participant in the meeting. This may restrict theirability to interact with the meetings in some examples, such as bylimiting their ability to speak in the meeting, hear or view certaincontent shared during the meeting, or access other meetingfunctionality, such as joining breakout rooms or engaging in text chatwith other participants in the meeting.

It should be appreciated that users may choose to participate inmeetings anonymously and decline to provide user identificationinformation to the video conference provider 110, even in cases wherethe user has an authenticated identity and employs a client devicecapable of identifying the user to the video conference provider 110.The video conference provider 110 may determine whether to allow suchanonymous users to use services provided by the video conferenceprovider 110. Anonymous users, regardless of the reason for anonymity,may be restricted as discussed above with respect to users employingtelephony devices, and in some cases may be prevented from accessingcertain meetings or other services, or may be entirely prevented fromaccessing the video conference provider 110.

Referring again to video conference provider 110, in some examples, itmay allow client devices 140-160 to encrypt their respective video andaudio streams to help improve privacy in their meetings. Encryption maybe provided between the client devices 140-160 and the video conferenceprovider 110 or it may be provided in an end-to-end configuration wheremultimedia streams transmitted by the client devices 140-160 are notdecrypted until they are received by another client device 140-160participating in the meeting. Encryption may also be provided duringonly a portion of a communication, for example encryption may be usedfor otherwise unencrypted communications that cross internationalborders.

Client-to-server encryption may be used to secure the communicationsbetween the client devices 140-160 and the video conference provider110, while allowing the video conference provider 110 to access thedecrypted multimedia streams to perform certain processing, such asrecording the meeting for the participants or generating transcripts ofthe meeting for the participants. End-to-end encryption may be used tokeep the meeting entirely private to the participants without any worryabout a video conference provider 110 having access to the substance ofthe meeting. Any suitable encryption methodology may be employed,including key-pair encryption of the streams. For example, to provideend-to-end encryption, the meeting host's client device may obtainpublic keys for each of the other client devices participating in themeeting and securely exchange a set of keys to encrypt and decryptmultimedia content transmitted during the meeting. Thus, the clientdevices 140-160 may securely communicate with each other during themeeting. Further, in some examples, certain types of encryption may belimited by the types of devices participating in the meeting. Forexample, telephony devices may lack the ability to encrypt and decryptmultimedia streams. Thus, while encrypting the multimedia streams may bedesirable in many instances, it is not required as it may prevent someusers from participating in a meeting.

By using the example system shown in FIG. 1 , users can create andparticipate in meetings using their respective client devices 140-180via the video conference provider 110. Further, such a system enablesusers to use a wide variety of different client devices 140-180 fromtraditional standards-based video conferencing hardware to dedicatedvideo conferencing equipment to laptop or desktop computers to handhelddevices to legacy telephony devices, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2 , FIG. 2 shows an example system 200 in which avideo conference provider 210 provides videoconferencing functionalityto various client devices 220-250. The client devices 220-250 includetwo conventional computing devices 220-230, dedicated equipment for avideo conference room 240, and a telephony device 250. Each clientdevice 220-250 communicates with the video conference provider 210 overa communications network, such as the internet for client devices220-240 or the PSTN for client device 250, generally as described abovewith respect to FIG. 1 . The video conference provider 210 is also incommunication with one or more user identity providers 215, which canauthenticate various users to the video conference provider 210generally as described above with respect to FIG. 1 .

In this example, the video conference provider 210 employs multipledifferent servers (or groups of servers) to provide different aspects ofvideo conference functionality, thereby enabling the various clientdevices to create and participate in video conference meetings. Thevideo conference provider 210 uses one or more real-time media servers212, one or more network services servers 214, one or more video roomgateways 216, and one or more telephony gateways 218. Each of theseservers 212-218 is connected to one or more communications networks toenable them to collectively provide access to and participation in oneor more video conference meetings to the client devices 220-250.

The real-time media servers 212 provide multiplexed multimedia streamsto meeting participants, such as the client devices 220-250 shown inFIG. 2 . While video and audio streams typically originate at therespective client devices, they are transmitted from the client devices220-250 to the video conference provider 210 via one or more networkswhere they are received by the real-time media servers 212. Thereal-time media servers 212 determine which protocol is optimal basedon, for example, proxy settings and the presence of firewalls, etc. Forexample, the client device might select among UDP, TCP, TLS, or HTTPSfor audio and video and UDP for content screen sharing.

The real-time media servers 212 then multiplex the various video andaudio streams based on the target client device and communicatemultiplexed streams to each client device. For example, the real-timemedia servers 212 receive audio and video streams from client devices220-240 and only an audio stream from client device 250. The real-timemedia servers 212 then multiplex the streams received from devices230-250 and provide the multiplexed streams to client device 220. Thereal-time media servers 212 are adaptive, for example, reacting toreal-time network and client changes, in how they provide these streams.For example, the real-time media servers 212 may monitor parameters suchas a client's bandwidth CPU usage, memory and network I/O as well asnetwork parameters such as packet loss, latency and jitter to determinehow to modify the way in which streams are provided.

The client device 220 receives the stream, performs any decryption,decoding, and demultiplexing on the received streams, and then outputsthe audio and video using the client device's video and audio devices.In this example, the real-time media servers do not multiplex clientdevice 220's own video and audio feeds when transmitting streams to it.Instead, each client device 220-250 only receives multimedia streamsfrom other client devices 220-250. For telephony devices that lack videocapabilities, e.g., client device 250, the real-time media servers 212only deliver multiplex audio streams. The client device 220 may receivemultiple streams for a particular communication, allowing the clientdevice 220 to switch between streams to provide a higher quality ofservice.

In addition to multiplexing multimedia streams, the real-time mediaservers 212 may also decrypt incoming multimedia stream in someexamples. As discussed above, multimedia streams may be encryptedbetween the client devices 220-250 and the video conference system 210.In some such examples, the real-time media servers 212 may decryptincoming multimedia streams, multiplex the multimedia streamsappropriately for the various clients, and encrypt the multiplexedstreams for transmission.

In some examples, to provide multiplexed streams, the video conferenceprovider 210 may receive multimedia streams from the variousparticipants and publish those streams to the various participants tosubscribe to and receive. Thus, the video conference provider 210notifies a client device, e.g., client device 220, about variousmultimedia streams available from the other client devices 230-250, andthe client device 220 can select which multimedia stream(s) to subscribeto and receive. In some examples, the video conference provider 210 mayprovide to each client device the available streams from the otherclient devices, but from the respective client device itself, though inother examples it may provide all available streams to all availableclient devices. Using such a multiplexing technique, the videoconference provider 210 may enable multiple different streams of varyingquality, thereby allowing client devices to change streams in real-timeas needed, e.g., based on network bandwidth, latency, etc.

As mentioned above with respect to FIG. 1 , the video conferenceprovider 210 may provide certain functionality with respect tounencrypted multimedia streams at a user's request. For example, themeeting host may be able to request that the meeting be recorded or thata transcript of the audio streams be prepared, which may then beperformed by the real-time media servers 212 using the decryptedmultimedia streams, or the recording or transcription functionality maybe off-loaded to a dedicated server (or servers), e.g., cloud recordingservers, for recording the audio and video streams. In some examples,the video conference provider 210 may allow a meeting participant tonotify it of inappropriate behavior or content in a meeting. Such anotification may trigger the real-time media servers to 212 record aportion of the meeting for review by the video conference provider 210.Still other functionality may be implemented to take actions based onthe decrypted multimedia streams at the video conference provider, suchas monitoring video or audio quality, adjusting or changing mediaencoding mechanisms, etc.

It should be appreciated that multiple real-time media servers 212 maybe involved in communicating data for a single meeting and multimediastreams may be routed through multiple different real-time media servers212. In addition, the various real-time media servers 212 may not beco-located, but instead may be located at multiple different geographiclocations, which may enable high-quality communications between clientsthat are dispersed over wide geographic areas, such as being located indifferent countries or on different continents. Further, in someexamples, one or more of these servers may be co-located on a client'spremises, e.g., at a business or other organization. For example,different geographic regions may each have one or more real-time mediaservers 212 to enable client devices in the same geographic region tohave a high-quality connection into the video conference provider 210via local servers 212 to send and receive multimedia streams, ratherthan connecting to a real-time media server located in a differentcountry or on a different continent. The local real-time media servers212 may then communicate with physically distant servers usinghigh-speed network infrastructure, e.g., internet backbone network(s),that otherwise might not be directly available to client devices 220-250themselves. Thus, routing multimedia streams may be distributedthroughout the video conference system 210 and across many differentreal-time media servers 212.

Turning to the network services servers 214, these servers 214 provideadministrative functionality to enable client devices to create orparticipate in meetings, send meeting invitations, create or manage useraccounts or subscriptions, and other related functionality. Further,these servers may be configured to perform different functionalities orto operate at different levels of a hierarchy, e.g., for specificregions or localities, to manage portions of the video conferenceprovider under a supervisory set of servers. When a client device220-250 accesses the video conference provider 210, it will typicallycommunicate with one or more network services servers 214 to accesstheir account or to participate in a meeting.

When a client device 220-250 first contacts the video conferenceprovider 210 in this example, it is routed to a network services server214. The client device may then provide access credentials for a user,e.g., a username and password or single sign-on credentials, to gainauthenticated access to the video conference provider 210. This processmay involve the network services servers 214 contacting a user identityprovider 215 to verify the provided credentials. Once the user'scredentials have been accepted, the client device 214 may performadministrative functionality, like updating user account information, ifthe user has an identity with the video conference provider 210, orscheduling a new meeting, by interacting with the network servicesservers 214.

In some examples, users may access the video conference provider 210anonymously. When communicating anonymously, a client device 220-250 maycommunicate with one or more network services servers 214 but onlyprovide information to create or join a meeting, depending on whatfeatures the video conference provider allows for anonymous users. Forexample, an anonymous user may access the video conference providerusing client 220 and provide a meeting ID and passcode. The networkservices server 214 may use the meeting ID to identify an upcoming oron-going meeting and verify the passcode is correct for the meeting ID.After doing so, the network services server(s) 214 may then communicateinformation to the client device 220 to enable the client device 220 tojoin the meeting and communicate with appropriate real-time mediaservers 212.

In cases where a user wishes to schedule a meeting, the user (anonymousor authenticated) may select an option to schedule a new meeting and maythen select various meeting options, such as the date and time for themeeting, the duration for the meeting, a type of encryption to be used,one or more users to invite, privacy controls (e.g., not allowinganonymous users, preventing screen sharing, manually authorize admissionto the meeting, etc.), meeting recording options, etc. The networkservices servers 214 may then create and store a meeting record for thescheduled meeting. When the scheduled meeting time arrives (or within athreshold period of time in advance), the network services server(s) 214may accept requests to join the meeting from various users.

To handle requests to join a meeting, the network services server(s) 214may receive meeting information, such as a meeting ID and passcode, fromone or more client devices 220-250. The network services server(s) 214locate a meeting record corresponding to the provided meeting ID andthen confirm whether the scheduled start time for the meeting hasarrived, whether the meeting host has started the meeting, and whetherthe passcode matches the passcode in the meeting record. If the requestis made by the host, the network services server(s) 214 activates themeeting and connects the host to a real-time media server 212 to enablethe host to begin sending and receiving multimedia streams.

Once the host has started the meeting, subsequent users requestingaccess will be admitted to the meeting if the meeting record is locatedand the passcode matches the passcode supplied by the requesting clientdevice 220-250. In some examples additional access controls may be usedas well. But if the network services server(s) 214 determines to admitthe requesting client device 220-250 to the meeting, the networkservices server 214 identifies a real-time media server 212 to handlemultimedia streams to and from the requesting client device 220-250 andprovides information to the client device 220-250 to connect to theidentified real-time media server 212. Additional client devices 220-250may be added to the meeting as they request access through the networkservices server(s) 214.

After joining a meeting, client devices will send and receive multimediastreams via the real-time media servers 212, but they may alsocommunicate with the network services servers 214 as needed duringmeetings. For example, if the meeting host leaves the meeting, thenetwork services server(s) 214 may appoint another user as the newmeeting host and assign host administrative privileges to that user.Hosts may have administrative privileges to allow them to manage theirmeetings, such as by enabling or disabling screen sharing, muting orremoving users from the meeting, creating sub-meetings or “break-out”rooms, recording meetings, etc. Such functionality may be managed by thenetwork services server(s) 214.

For example, if a host wishes to remove a user from a meeting, they mayidentify the user and issue a command through a user interface on theirclient device. The command may be sent to a network services server 214,which may then disconnect the identified user from the correspondingreal-time media server 212. If the host wishes to create a break-outroom for one or more meeting participants to join, such a command mayalso be handled by a network services server 214, which may create a newmeeting record corresponding to the break-out room and then connect oneor more meeting participants to the break-out room similarly to how itoriginally admitted the participants to the meeting itself.

In addition to creating and administering on-going meetings, the networkservices server(s) 214 may also be responsible for closing andtearing-down meetings once they have completed. For example, the meetinghost may issue a command to end an on-going meeting, which is sent to anetwork services server 214. The network services server 214 may thenremove any remaining participants from the meeting, communicate with oneor more real time media servers 212 to stop streaming audio and videofor the meeting, and deactivate, e.g., by deleting a correspondingpasscode for the meeting from the meeting record, or delete the meetingrecord(s) corresponding to the meeting. Thus, if a user later attemptsto access the meeting, the network services server(s) 214 may deny therequest.

Depending on the functionality provided by the video conferenceprovider, the network services server(s) 214 may provide additionalfunctionality, such as by providing private meeting capabilities fororganizations, special types of meetings (e.g., webinars), etc. Suchfunctionality may be provided according to various examples of videoconferencing providers according to this description.

Referring now to the video room gateway servers 216, these servers 216provide an interface between dedicated video conferencing hardware, suchas may be used in dedicated video conferencing rooms. Such videoconferencing hardware may include one or more cameras and microphonesand a computing device designed to receive video and audio streams fromeach of the cameras and microphones and connect with the videoconference provider 210. For example, the video conferencing hardwaremay be provided by the video conference provider to one or more of itssubscribers, which may provide access credentials to the videoconferencing hardware to use to connect to the video conference provider210.

The video room gateway servers 216 provide specialized authenticationand communication with the dedicated video conferencing hardware thatmay not be available to other client devices 220-230, 250. For example,the video conferencing hardware may register with the video conferenceprovider 210 when it is first installed and the video room gatewayservers 216 may authenticate the video conferencing hardware using suchregistration as well as information provided to the video room gatewayserver(s) 216 when dedicated video conferencing hardware connects to it,such as device ID information, subscriber information, hardwarecapabilities, hardware version information etc. Upon receiving suchinformation and authenticating the dedicated video conferencinghardware, the video room gateway server(s) 216 may interact with thenetwork services servers 214 and real-time media servers 212 to allowthe video conferencing hardware to create or join meetings hosted by thevideo conference provider 210.

Referring now to the telephony gateway servers 218, these servers 218enable and facilitate telephony devices' participation in meetings hosedby the video conference provider 210. Because telephony devicescommunicate using the PSTN and not using computer networking protocols,such as TCP/IP, the telephony gateway servers 218 act as an interfacethat converts between the PSTN and the networking system used by thevideo conference provider 210.

For example, if a user uses a telephony device to connect to a meeting,they may dial a phone number corresponding to one of the videoconference provider's telephony gateway servers 218. The telephonygateway server 218 will answer the call and generate audio messagesrequesting information from the user, such as a meeting ID and passcode.The user may enter such information using buttons on the telephonydevice, e.g., by sending dual-tone multi-frequency (“DTMF”) audiosignals to the telephony gateway server 218. The telephony gatewayserver 218 determines the numbers or letters entered by the user andprovides the meeting ID and passcode information to the network servicesservers 214, along with a request to join or start the meeting,generally as described above. Once the telephony client device 250 hasbeen accepted into a meeting, the telephony gateway server 218 isinstead joined to the meeting on the telephony device's behalf.

After joining the meeting, the telephony gateway server 218 receives anaudio stream from the telephony device and provides it to thecorresponding real-time media server 212 and receives audio streams fromthe real-time media server 212, decodes them, and provides the decodedaudio to the telephony device. Thus, the telephony gateway servers 218operate essentially as client devices, while the telephony deviceoperates largely as an input/output device, e.g., a microphone andspeaker, for the corresponding telephony gateway server 218, therebyenabling the user of the telephony device to participate in the meetingdespite not using a computing device or video.

It should be appreciated that the components of the video conferenceprovider 210 discussed above are merely examples of such devices and anexample architecture. Some video conference providers may provide moreor less functionality than described above and may not separatefunctionality into different types of servers as discussed above.Instead, any suitable servers and network architectures may be usedaccording to different examples.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A-3B, FIG. 3A shows an example system forbridging video conference connections. This example system 300 includestwo client devices 330 operated by one user that are connected to one ormore communications networks 320, such as the internet. The system 300also includes a video conference provider 310 and multiple other clientdevice 340 a-n that are also connected to the one or more communicationsnetworks 320.

In operation, a user may use a software client executed by client device330 to join or host a video conference using the video conferenceprovider 310, generally as described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2. During the video conference, the client device 330 sends and receivesmultimedia streams, such as audio or video streams, to the videoconference provider 310, which in turn provides them to the otherparticipants in the video conference.

During the video conference, the software client monitors the state ofthe network connection to the video conference provider 310, such as theavailable bandwidth, congestion, packet loss, latency, or jitter, todetermine whether the network connection is of sufficiently high qualityto allow high quality transfer of multimedia streams. For example, thesoftware client may receive video images from a camera that are encodedand transmitted as a video stream to the video conference provider 310.Based on the quality of the network connection, the software client mayselect from multiple available video encoders or select options within aparticular video encoder to generate a video stream having a bit ratethat can be reliably communicated across the network connection.

For example, if the network connection has a bandwidth of tens orhundreds of kilobits per second, it may select a low-bit-rate videoencoder to generate video at a lower resolution, e.g., 640×480 pixels,having a bit rate of tens or hundreds of kilobits per second. Incontrast, if the network connection has a reliable bandwidth in themegabits per second, the software client may select a video encoder thatprovides a higher-bit-rate encoding, such as high-definition (“HD”)video (e.g., 1920×1080 pixels). Further, if the network connection is oflow quality, the software client may also employ a compression scheme(e.g., a lossy compression scheme) to further reduce bandwidthrequirements, potentially at the cost of video quality.

While such strategies may enable participants to continue providingvideo streams even when network conditions are suboptimal, the user'sperceived immersion in the video conference may be negatively impacteddue to the lower resolution video or video artifacts resulting fromcompression. In addition, similar strategies may be employed for theaudio streams, potentially resulting in reduced audio quality. To helpalleviate the impact of poor network conditions, the software client mayconnect the client device 330 to a remote client device 332 to make useof a network connection available to the remote client device'sconnection to the network 320 in addition to the local client device'snetwork connection. It can then use both network connections to send orreceive multimedia streams.

Referring now to FIG. 3B, the client device executes a software client,referred to as the video conferencing application 350 in this example.The video conferencing application 350 receives audio and video datafrom a microphone 336 and a camera 334, respectively, connected to theclient device 330. During a video conference, the video conferencingapplication 350 encodes the received audio and video data and transmitsthem to the network as multimedia streams 380 using a network interface360. The video conferencing application 350 also monitors the state ofthe network connection between the network interface 360 and the videoconference provider 310. As discussed above, the state of the networkconnection can include many different factors, such as availablebandwidth, network congestion, latency, jitter, packet loss, quality ofservice (“QoS”) prioritization schemes, wireless signal strength,interference, or other characteristic. If the video conferencingapplication 350 determines that current network conditions are too poorto provide sufficiently high-quality video or audio streams, it canconnect the client device 330 to a remote client device 332 to make useof the remote client device's network connection.

In this example, both the client device 330 and the remote client device332 include two network interfaces 360-362, 372-370. The client device360 uses one network interface 360 to connect to the network 320 and theother network interface 362 to connect to the remote client device 332.Similarly, the remote client device 332 can use network interface 372 toconnect to the client device 330, and network interface 370 to connectto the network 320. Any suitable network interfaces 360-362, 370-372 maybe employed. In this example, network interface 360 is a WiFi interfacethat connects to a WiFi access point at the user's location. Networkinterfaces 362 and 372 are Bluetooth (“BT”) interfaces, while networkinterface 370 is a wireless cellular network interface. However, othersuitable interfaces may be employed. For example, network interfaces360, 370 may be WiFi, wired ethernet, or any suitable network interfacefor a local area network (“LAN”), corporate network, wide area network(“WAN”), or metro area network (“MAN”). Similarly, the networkinterfaces 362, 372 may be any suitable wired or wireless networkinterface to enable device-to-device communications. Such interfaces362, 372 may be peer-to-peer interfaces, such as BT, BT low energy(“BLE”), Universal Serial Bus (“USB”), FireWire, Thunderbolt, orLightning® interfaces provided by Apple®. In some examples, however, thenetwork interface 362, 372 may enable device-to-device connections viaone or more intervening networks, e.g., a LAN via a WiFi or ethernetconnection. Thus, network interfaces 362, 372 may be any suitablenetwork interfaces that may be employed to establish device-to-devicecommunications between the client device 330 and the remote clientdevice 332.

In the scenario discussed above where the client device 330 determinesthe network conditions are too poor to provide sufficiently high-qualityvideo or audio streams, it can connect to the remote client deice 332 tomake use of its cellular network interface. To employ the remote clientdevice's cellular network interface 370, the client device 330establishes a BT connection with the remote client device 332 and issuesone or more instructions to the remote client device 332 to connect tothe video conference using its cellular network interface 370. Theclient device 330 then routes one or more multimedia streams to theremote client device 332, which transmits them as multimedia stream(s)382.

To allow such functionality to happen in this example, the remote clientdevice 332 has previously been configured to allow the client device 330to pair with it via BT. Further, it has been configured to launch asoftware application, e.g., another copy of the video conferencingapplication 350, to communicate with the video conferencing application350 executing on the client device 330 to coordinate the communicationof audio or video streams both between the client device 330 and theremote client device 332 as well as between the remote client device 332and the video conference provider 310. For example, the client device330 may instruct the remote client device to receive and transmit avideo stream to the video conference provider 310, while the clientdevice 330 may continue to transmit an audio stream using its networkinterface 360 to the video conference provider 310.

During the course of the video conference, the client device 330 andremote client device 332 may exchange multimedia streams 384, which maybe relayed to the video conference provider 310 from the client device330, or from the video conference provider 310 to the client device 330.Further, as network conditions change during the course of the videoconference, the video conferencing application 350 may dynamicallyre-route one or more multimedia streams to the remote client device 332or back to the client device 330. This can result in all multimediastreams being routed through the remote client device 332 or the clientdevice 330.

Further, in some examples, the video conferencing application 350 mayfurther allocate upstream and downstream multimedia streams between thedevices. In the context of this application “upstream” refers tocommunications sent from the client device 330 to the video conference(whether from the video conference provider or directly from anotherparticipant device), while “downstream” refers to communicationsreceived by the client device 330 from the video conference.

For example, to ensure the other participants in the video conferencereceive the best quality experience, the client device 330 may routeupstream audio from the client device 330 to the remote client device332, while using its own network interface to route upstream video aswell as receive audio and video streams from the video conferenceprovider. Thus, it may dedicate the bandwidth for the remote clientdevice to transmitting audio streams of the highest quality, at the costof potentially degrading the user's own experience by receivinglower-quality audio and video from the video conference provider. Thus,the video conferencing application 350 may independently route any orall upstream or downstream multimedia streams to the remote clientdevice 332, or return them to the client device 330, depending onnetwork conditions.

Referring now to FIG. 4 , FIG. 4 shows an example system for bridgingvideo conference connections. In this example, a client device 430includes two different network interfaces 460, 462 that can be used toconnect to different communications networks to enable a user toparticipate in a video conference. As discussed above with respect toFIGS. 3A-3B, a user may employ their client device 430 to join andparticipate in a video conference. To do so, the client device 430executes a video conferencing application 350 that uses a networkconnection provided by one of the network interfaces 460, 462 to connectto the video conference provider, generally as discussed above withrespect to FIGS. 1-2 .

During the video conference, the video conferencing application 350monitors the quality of the network connection, as discussed above withrespect to FIGS. 3A-3B. If the quality of the network connection becomestoo degraded, the video conferencing application 350 can attempt toactivate a second network interface to obtain a different networkconnection to the video conference provider. However, unlike withrespect to the examples discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3B, inthis example, the client device 430 does not connect to a remote clientdevice. Instead, the client device 430 activates a second networkinterface to obtain a different network connection.

For example, the client device 430 may initially join the videoconference using a WiFi connection provided by network interface 460 anduse the network connection to send and receive multimedia streams 480.During the video conference, the video conferencing application maydetermine that the network connection provided by the network interface460 is of low quality and that one or more multimedia streams should besent using a different network connection. The video conferencingapplication 350 can then activate a new network connection (or access apreviously activated network connection) using network interface 462,such as via a cellular network. Once the video conferencing application350 has activated or accessed the additional network connection, it canselect one or more multimedia streams to route through the networkconnection provided by the additional network interface 462, generallyas discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3B.

Referring now to FIG. 5 , FIG. 5 shows an example method 500 forbridging video conference connections. The example method 500 shown inFIG. 5 will be described with respect to the example system 300 shown inFIGS. 3A-3B; however, it should be appreciated that any suitable systemaccording to this disclosure may be employed, such as the system 400shown in FIG. 4 .

At block 510, a user uses a video conferencing application 350 executedby their client device 330 to join a video conference hosted by a videoconference provider 310, generally as discussed above with respect toFIGS. 1-3B.

At block 520, the video conferencing application 350 determines to use asecond network interface. As discussed above, the video conferencingapplication 350 may monitor a state of a network connection to the videoconference provider 310. To determine whether to use an additionalnetwork interface, the video conferencing application 350 may determineinformation about the state of the network connection, such as thosecharacteristics discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3B. Inaddition, the video conferencing application may determine one or moreof a number or types of multimedia streams being transmitted or receivedby the video conferencing application 350, bit rates associated with theone or more multimedia streams, different available encoders/decodersfor the multimedia streams, or priority information for one or more ofthe multimedia streams.

The video conferencing application 350 may then determine whether thenetwork connection can provide a threshold amount of upstream ordownstream bandwidth, a threshold latency, a threshold jitter, or athreshold number of lost packets per period of time. It may alsodetermine whether the network exhibits characteristics of a thresholdlevel of congestion, whether the network interface indicates a thresholdsignal strength from a wireless access point (e.g., a WiFi access pointor cellular network) or other network characteristic threshold.

Based on which thresholds or characteristics are satisfied according todifferent implementations or different weightings of those thresholds,the video conferencing application 350 may determine that a need existsfor a second network interface. For example, the video conferencingapplication 350 may determine that the network connection has droppedapproximately 10% of upstream packets over the past 30 seconds, whichexceeds a predetermined threshold of 2.5% per rolling 30-secondinterval. The video conferencing application 350 may then determine thatbecause too many packets are being dropped, an additional networkconnection is needed. In another example, the video conferencingapplication 350 may determine that the available bandwidth from thenetwork interface 360 has dropped, e.g., due to other network traffic,below a threshold that would require a lower quality video encoder to beused. For example, 1080p high-definition (“HD”) video may requireapproximately 3.8 megabits per second (Mbps) of network bandwidth, while720p HD video may only require 2.6 Mbps. If the available upstreambandwidth changes from 5 Mbps to 3 Mbps, the video conferencingapplication 350 may switch from the 1080p encoder to a 720p encoder totemporarily accommodate the reduced bandwidth but determine that asecond network interface is needed to return to full 1080p videoencoding.

At block 530, the video conferencing application 350 activates a secondnetwork interface. As discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3B, thevideo conferencing application 350 may cause the client device 330 toestablish a connection with a remote client device 332 to make use ofthe remote client device's network interface 370. The video conferencingapplication 350 may cause the client device 330 to use a wirelessnetwork interface, e.g., network interface 362, to establish apeer-to-peer connection to the remote client device 332 and transmit oneor more messages to access a second network interface 370 provided bythe remote client device 332. To do so, the one or more messages maycause the remote client device to launch a video conferencingapplication that can access the network interface 370. Similarly, thetwo devices 330, 332 may be connected by wired connection, e.g., a USBcable, and the video conferencing application 350 may transmit messagesvia the USB connection.

In some examples, the video conferencing application 350 may activate asecond network interface by sending one or more commands to a remoteclient device 332 to change or enable an operating mode. For example, ifthe remote client device 332 has cellular communication capabilities andWiFi capabilities, the video conferencing application 350 may send oneor more commands to the remote client device 332 to configure itself tooperate in a hotspot mode, whereby the remote client device 332 sharesits connection to a network, whether wired or wireless, via a separatecommunications interface, whether wired or wireless. For a cellulardevice operating as a remote client device 332, this may cause theremote client device 332 to activate its WiFi radio, or to operate itsWiFi radio in a mode to allow other devices to connect to it via WiFi.It can then share its cellular network connection with the devicesconnected to it via WiFi. Such an approach may allow the client device330 to connect to the remote client device 332 via WiFi and employ itscellular communication capabilities. And while this example employs WiFito provide the connection between the client device 330 and the remoteclient device 332, the remote client device 332 may provide hotspotfunctionality through a wired connection, such as a USB or Lightning®connection, that is then allowed to make use of the cellularcommunication capabilities.

At block 540, the video conferencing application 350 connects to thevideo conference using the second network interface 370. In thisexample, the video conferencing application 350 sends one or moremessages to a video conferencing application executed by the remoteclient device 350, which in turn connects to the video conference usingthe user's own access information and identifies the connection as asecond connection for the user. The video conference provider 310 mayallow the remote client device to connect to the video conference buttreat the two connections as belonging to a single participant, ratherthan two participants.

In some examples, rather than executing a copy of a video conferencingapplication on the remote client device 332, the remote client device332 may present the second network connection 370 for access by thevideo conferencing application 350 on the client device 330, such as ina cellular wireless hotspot configuration. The video conferencingapplication 350 may then be able to directly send and receive multimediastreams using the second network connection 370 without interacting withanother video conferencing application on the remote client device 332.The video conferencing application 350 may then establish a secondconnection to the video conference using the second network interface370, as discussed above.

At block 550, the video conferencing application 350 may determinenetwork characteristics of the two network connections, generally asdiscussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3B. Such characteristics mayinclude available upstream and downstream bandwidth, latency, jitter,packet loss, wireless signal strength, congestion, availability of QoSschemes, wireless interference etc.

At block 560, the video conferencing application 350 assigns multimediastreams to the two network interfaces 360, 370. As discussed above,multimedia streams may be assigned independently in the upstream anddownstream directions. Further, audio and video streams in one or bothdirections may be allocated independently of each other. Suchallocations may be made based on network characteristics of the twonetwork connections, or independently of those network characteristics.For example, the video conferencing application may assign video streamsto the remote client device 332 and audio streams to the client device330 without considering the network characteristics of one or bothnetwork connections.

In some examples, it may assign multimedia streams to the networkconnections based on a priority associated with the multimedia streams.For example, upstream audio may be assigned a highest priority, followedby upstream video of the participant, followed by upstream video ofpresented content, followed by downstream audio streams, and finallyfollowed by downstream video streams. However, any suitableprioritization scheme may be employed.

At block 570, the video conference application 350 transmits andreceives multimedia streams using the two network interfaces, such as bytransmitting one or more multimedia streams to the remote client device332.

The method 500 may then return to block 550 to continue to monitor thenetwork connections and determine corresponding network characteristics.Thus, the client device 330 may continuously monitor the availablenetwork connections and dynamically re-assign multimedia streamsthroughout the duration of the video conference, as appropriate.

It should be appreciated that while the discussion above employed aremote client device 332 to provide the second network connection, thesecond network connection may be provided by a different networkinterface on the client device 330, such as illustrated in FIG. 4 ,without employing a remote client device 332.

While the examples above describe the use of two network connections,possibly provided by two different computing devices, there is not alimit on the number of network connections that may be employed. Forexample, any number of network connections may be employed, depending onthe available networking resources.

Referring now to FIG. 6 , FIG. 6 shows an example computing device 600suitable for use in example systems or methods for bridging videoconference connections according to this disclosure. The examplecomputing device 600 includes a processor 610 which is in communicationwith the memory 620 and other components of the computing device 600using one or more communications buses 602. The processor 610 isconfigured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in thememory 620 to perform one or more methods for bridging video conferenceconnections according to different examples, such as part or all of theexample method 500 described above with respect to FIG. 5 . Thecomputing device 600, in this example, also includes one or more userinput devices 650, such as a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, microphone,etc., to accept user input. The computing device 600 also includes adisplay 640 to provide visual output to a user.

In addition, the computing device 600 includes a video conferencingapplication 660 to enable a user to join and participate in a videoconference, such as a conventional meeting or webinar, by receivingmultimedia streams from a video conference provider, sending multimediastreams to the video conference provider, joining and leaving breakoutrooms, bridge video conference connections, etc. such as describedthroughout this disclosure, etc.

The computing device 600 also includes a communications interface 640.In some examples, the communications interface 630 may enablecommunications using one or more networks, including a local areanetwork (“LAN”); wide area network (“WAN”), such as the Internet;metropolitan area network (“MAN”); point-to-point or peer-to-peerconnection; etc. Communication with other devices may be accomplishedusing any suitable networking protocol. For example, one suitablenetworking protocol may include the Internet Protocol (“IP”),Transmission Control Protocol (“TCP”), User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”),or combinations thereof, such as TCP/IP or UDP/IP.

Multiple examples have been discussed; however, any number of examplesmay be employed according to this disclosure. For example, a firstexample includes a method that includes joining, using a client device,a video conference using a first network interface, the video conferenceincluding a plurality of participants; determining to use a secondnetwork interface; connecting to the video conference using the secondnetwork interface simultaneously with the first network interface;assigning a first multimedia stream to the first network interface and asecond multimedia stream to the second network interface; and using thefirst and second network interfaces to transmit or receive the first andsecond multimedia streams.

A second example employs the method of the first example, wherein theclient device comprises the second network interface, and furthercomprising, in response to determining to use the second networkinterface, activating the second network interface.

A third example employs the method of the first or second example,wherein the first network interface uses a first wireless networkingprotocol and the second network interface uses a second wirelessnetworking protocol, the first wireless networking protocol differentfrom the second wireless networking protocol.

A fourth example employs the method of any of the first to thirdexamples, further comprising connecting, by the client device, to aremote device using a third network interface; and wherein the remotedevice provides the second network interface.

A fifth example employs the method of any of the first to fourthexamples, further comprising determining a first network characteristicusing the first network interface; determining a second networkcharacteristic using the second network interface; and wherein assigningthe first multimedia stream to the first network interface and thesecond multimedia stream to the second network interface is based on thefirst and second network characteristics.

A sixth example employs the method of any of the first to fifthexamples, wherein the first multimedia stream is an uplink multimediastream and the second multimedia stream is a downlink multimedia stream.

A seventh example employs the method of any of the first to sixthexamples, further comprising determining a first connection qualityusing the first network interface; determining a second connectionquality using the second network interface; responsive to determiningthat the first connection quality is a higher connection quality thanthe second connection quality, assigning the uplink multimedia stream tothe first network interface; and assigning the downlink multimediastream to the second network interface.

An eighth example is a system that includes a communications interface;a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and one or more processorscommunicatively coupled to the communications interface and thenon-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more processorsconfigured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in thenon-transitory computer-readable medium to join a video conference usinga first network interface, the video conference including a plurality ofparticipants; determine to use a second network interface; connect tothe video conference using the second network interface simultaneouslywith the first network interface; assign a first multimedia stream tothe first network interface and a second multimedia stream to the secondnetwork interface; and use the first and second network interfaces totransmit or receive the first and second multimedia streams.

A ninth example employs the system of the eighth example, furthercomprising the second network interface, and wherein the one or moreprocessors are communicatively coupled to the second network interfaceand configured to execute further processor-executable instructionsstored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to cause the oneor more processors to, in response to determining to use the secondnetwork interface, activate the second network interface.

A tenth example employs the system of the eighth or ninth examples,wherein the first network interface uses a first wireless networkingprotocol and the second network interface uses a second wirelessnetworking protocol, the first wireless networking protocol differentfrom the second wireless networking protocol.

An eleventh example employs the system of any of the eighth throughtenth examples, further comprising a third network interface, whereinthe one or more processors are communicatively coupled to the thirdnetwork interface and configured to execute further processor-executableinstructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium tocause the one or more processors to connect to a remote device using thethird network interface; and wherein the remote device provides thesecond network interface.

A twelfth example employs the system of any of the eighth througheleventh examples, wherein the one or more processors are configured toexecute further processor-executable instructions stored in thenon-transitory computer-readable medium to cause the one or moreprocessors to determine a first network characteristic using the firstnetwork interface; determine a second network characteristic using thesecond network interface; and assign the first multimedia stream to thefirst network interface and the second multimedia stream to the secondnetwork interface based on the first and second network characteristics.

A thirteenth example employs the system of any of the eighth throughtwelfth examples, wherein the first multimedia stream is an uplinkmultimedia stream and the second multimedia stream is a downlinkmultimedia stream.

A fourteenth example employs the system of any of the eighth throughthirteenth examples, wherein the first multimedia stream is an uplinkmultimedia stream and the second multimedia stream is a downlinkmultimedia stream, and wherein the one or more processors are configuredto execute further processor-executable instructions stored in thenon-transitory computer-readable medium to cause the one or moreprocessors to determine a first connection quality using the firstnetwork interface; determine a second connection quality using thesecond network interface; responsive to a determination that the firstconnection quality is a higher connection quality than the secondconnection quality assign the uplink multimedia stream to the firstnetwork interface; and assign the downlink multimedia stream to thesecond network interface.

A fifteenth example is a non-transitory computer-readable medium thatincludes processor-executable instructions configured to cause one ormore processors to join a video conference using a first networkinterface, the video conference including a plurality of participants;determine to use a second network interface; connect to the videoconference using the second network interface simultaneously with thefirst network interface; assign a first multimedia stream to the firstnetwork interface and a second multimedia stream to the second networkinterface; and use the first and second network interfaces to transmitor receive the first and second multimedia streams.

A sixteenth example employs the non-transitory computer-readable mediumof the fifteenth example, further comprising processor-executableinstructions configured to cause the one or more processors to, inresponse to determining to use the second network interface, activatethe second network interface.

A seventeenth example employs the non-transitory computer-readablemedium of the fifteenth or sixteenth examples, wherein the first networkinterface uses a first wireless networking protocol and the secondnetwork interface uses a second wireless networking protocol, the firstwireless networking protocol different from the second wirelessnetworking protocol.

An eighteenth example employs the non-transitory computer-readablemedium of any of the fifteenth through seventeenth examples, furthercomprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause the oneor more processors to connect to a remote device using a third networkinterface; and wherein the remote device provides the second networkinterface.

A nineteenth example employs the non-transitory computer-readable mediumof any of the fifteenth through eighteenth examples, further comprisingprocessor-executable instructions configured to cause the one or moreprocessors to determine a first network characteristic using the firstnetwork interface; determine a second network characteristic using thesecond network interface; and assign the first multimedia stream to thefirst network interface and the second multimedia stream to the secondnetwork interface based on the first and second network characteristics.

A twentieth example employs the non-transitory computer-readable mediumof any of the fifteenth to nineteenth examples, wherein the firstmultimedia stream is an uplink multimedia stream and the secondmultimedia stream is a downlink multimedia stream.

A twenty-first example employs the non-transitory computer-readablemedium of any of the fifteenth to twentieth examples, wherein the firstmultimedia stream is an uplink multimedia stream and the secondmultimedia stream is a downlink multimedia stream, and furthercomprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause the oneor more processors to determine a first connection quality using thefirst network interface; determine a second connection quality using thesecond network interface; responsive to a determination that the firstconnection quality is a higher connection quality than the secondconnection quality assign the uplink multimedia stream to the firstnetwork interface; and assign the downlink multimedia stream to thesecond network interface.

While some examples of methods and systems herein are described in termsof software executing on various machines, the methods and systems mayalso be implemented as specifically-configured hardware, such asfield-programmable gate array (FPGA) specifically to execute the variousmethods according to this disclosure. For example, examples can beimplemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware,firmware, software, or in a combination thereof. In one example, adevice may include a processor or processors. The processor comprises acomputer-readable medium, such as a random-access memory (RAM) coupledto the processor. The processor executes computer-executable programinstructions stored in memory, such as executing one or more computerprograms. Such processors may comprise a microprocessor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and state machines. Suchprocessors may further comprise programmable electronic devices such asPLCs, programmable interrupt controllers (PICs), programmable logicdevices (PLDs), programmable read-only memories (PROMs), electronicallyprogrammable read-only memories (EPROMs or EEPROMs), or other similardevices.

Such processors may comprise, or may be in communication with, media,for example one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, that maystore processor-executable instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, can cause the processor to perform methods according to thisdisclosure as carried out, or assisted, by a processor. Examples ofnon-transitory computer-readable medium may include, but are not limitedto, an electronic, optical, magnetic, or other storage device capable ofproviding a processor, such as the processor in a web server, withprocessor-executable instructions. Other examples of non-transitorycomputer-readable media include, but are not limited to, a floppy disk,CD-ROM, magnetic disk, memory chip, ROM, RAM, ASIC, configuredprocessor, all optical media, all magnetic tape or other magnetic media,or any other medium from which a computer processor can read. Theprocessor, and the processing, described may be in one or morestructures, and may be dispersed through one or more structures. Theprocessor may comprise code to carry out methods (or parts of methods)according to this disclosure.

The foregoing description of some examples has been presented only forthe purpose of illustration and description and is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed.Numerous modifications and adaptations thereof will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure.

Reference herein to an example or implementation means that a particularfeature, structure, operation, or other characteristic described inconnection with the example may be included in at least oneimplementation of the disclosure. The disclosure is not restricted tothe particular examples or implementations described as such. Theappearance of the phrases “in one example,” “in an example,” “in oneimplementation,” or “in an implementation,” or variations of the same invarious places in the specification does not necessarily refer to thesame example or implementation. Any particular feature, structure,operation, or other characteristic described in this specification inrelation to one example or implementation may be combined with otherfeatures, structures, operations, or other characteristics described inrespect of any other example or implementation.

Use herein of the word “or” is intended to cover inclusive and exclusiveOR conditions. In other words, A or B or C includes any or all of thefollowing alternative combinations as appropriate for a particularusage: A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B only; A and C only; B and Conly; and A and B and C.

1. A method comprising: joining, using a client device, a videoconference using a first network interface, the video conferenceincluding a plurality of participants; after joining the videoconference, determining a need to use a second network interface;connecting to the video conference using the second network interfacesimultaneously with the first network interface; assigning a firstmultimedia stream to the first network interface and a second multimediastream to the second network interface; and using the first and secondnetwork interfaces to transmit or receive the first and secondmultimedia streams.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client devicecomprises the second network interface, and further comprising, inresponse to determining to use the second network interface, activatingthe second network interface.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst network interface uses a first wireless networking protocol andthe second network interface uses a second wireless networking protocol,the first wireless networking protocol different from the secondwireless networking protocol.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: connecting, by the client device, to a remote device using athird network interface; and wherein the remote device provides thesecond network interface.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a first network characteristic using the first networkinterface; determining a second network characteristic using the secondnetwork interface; and wherein assigning the first multimedia stream tothe first network interface and the second multimedia stream to thesecond network interface is based on the first and second networkcharacteristics.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first multimediastream is an uplink multimedia stream and the second multimedia streamis a downlink multimedia stream.
 7. A system comprising: a first networkinterface; a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and one or moreprocessors communicatively coupled to the first network interface andthe non-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more processorsconfigured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in thenon-transitory computer-readable medium to cause the one or moreprocessors to: join a video conference using the first networkinterface, the video conference including a plurality of participants;after joining the video conference, determine a need to use a secondnetwork interface; connect to the video conference using the secondnetwork interface simultaneously with the first network interface;assign a first multimedia stream to the first network interface and asecond multimedia stream to the second network interface; and use thefirst and second network interfaces to transmit or receive the first andsecond multimedia streams.
 8. The system of claim 7, further comprisingthe second network interface, and wherein the one or more processors arecommunicatively coupled to the second network interface and configuredto execute further processor-executable instructions stored in thenon-transitory computer-readable medium to cause the one or moreprocessors to, in response to determining to use the second networkinterface, activate the second network interface.
 9. The system of claim7, wherein the first network interface uses a first wireless networkingprotocol and the second network interface uses a second wirelessnetworking protocol, the first wireless networking protocol differentfrom the second wireless networking protocol.
 10. The system of claim 7,further comprising a third network interface, wherein the one or moreprocessors are communicatively coupled to the third network interfaceand configured to execute further processor-executable instructionsstored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to cause the oneor more processors to: connect to a remote device using the thirdnetwork interface; and wherein the remote device provides the secondnetwork interface.
 11. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or moreprocessors are configured to execute further processor-executableinstructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium tocause the one or more processors to: determine a first networkcharacteristic using the first network interface; determine a secondnetwork characteristic using the second network interface; and assignthe first multimedia stream to the first network interface and thesecond multimedia stream to the second network interface based on thefirst and second network characteristics.
 12. The system of claim 7,wherein the first multimedia stream is an uplink multimedia stream andthe second multimedia stream is a downlink multimedia stream.
 13. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the first multimedia stream is an uplinkmultimedia stream and the second multimedia stream is a downlinkmultimedia stream, and wherein the one or more processors are configuredto execute further processor-executable instructions stored in thenon-transitory computer-readable medium to cause the one or moreprocessors to: determine a first connection quality using the firstnetwork interface; determine a second connection quality using thesecond network interface; responsive to a determination that the firstconnection quality is a higher connection quality than the secondconnection quality: assign the uplink multimedia stream to the firstnetwork interface; and assign the downlink multimedia stream to thesecond network interface.
 14. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumcomprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause one ormore processors to: join a video conference using a first networkinterface, the video conference including a plurality of participants;after joining the video conference, determine a need to use a secondnetwork interface; connect to the video conference using the secondnetwork interface simultaneously with the first network interface;assign a first multimedia stream to the first network interface and asecond multimedia stream to the second network interface; and use thefirst and second network interfaces to transmit or receive the first andsecond multimedia streams.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 14, further comprising processor-executable instructionsconfigured to cause the one or more processors to, in response todetermining to use the second network interface, activate the secondnetwork interface.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 14, wherein the first network interface uses a first wirelessnetworking protocol and the second network interface uses a secondwireless networking protocol, the first wireless networking protocoldifferent from the second wireless networking protocol.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprisingprocessor-executable instructions configured to cause the one or moreprocessors to: connect to a remote device using a third networkinterface; and wherein the remote device provides the second networkinterface.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14,further comprising processor-executable instructions configured to causethe one or more processors to: determine a first network characteristicusing the first network interface; determine a second networkcharacteristic using the second network interface; and assign the firstmultimedia stream to the first network interface and the secondmultimedia stream to the second network interface based on the first andsecond network characteristics.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 14, wherein the first multimedia stream is an uplinkmultimedia stream and the second multimedia stream is a downlinkmultimedia stream.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 14, wherein the first multimedia stream is an uplink multimediastream and the second multimedia stream is a downlink multimedia stream,and further comprising processor-executable instructions configured tocause the one or more processors to: determine a first connectionquality using the first network interface; determine a second connectionquality using the second network interface; responsive to adetermination that the first connection quality is a higher connectionquality than the second connection quality: assign the uplink multimediastream to the first network interface; and assign the downlinkmultimedia stream to the second network interface.